Does oil drilling effect earth?

I'm wondering what happens beneath the earth while we keep drilling for oil.

If you know that we drill millions of liters a day, what does this do to the mantel of our earth? :shrug:
Are there giant caves ? you could fit city's in it.
Are earthquake a result of this?
What happens if by some way the mantel colapses. Would this leave a giant hole? and if so what effect would this have on the spinning of the earth?

I know that are a lot of "ifs" butt it is something i think about alot.
Mankind is destroying our planet but doesn't care.

There won't be caves. Oil is held in pore spaces in solid rock, so when you remove it, you end up with solid rock without oil (probably replaced by water). The mantle won't be affected, as this is generally separated from the oil bearing rocks by several of kilometers of crust. There is sometimes some subsidence related to oil extraction though.

When oil comes out of a well its under lots of pressure, shoots up like firehose water. There must be lots of rock weight pressing in on it where its stored underground. So when the oil is gone, surely some of the rock must move in to fill the spaces or pores?

It might be in places, something comes up from below to take its place, like lava. This article says maybe in future the subsidence could get worse, and work together with seas rising to put land underwater.

When oil comes out of a well its under lots of pressure, shoots up like firehose water. There must be lots of rock weight pressing in on it where its stored underground. So when the oil is gone, surely some of the rock must move in to fill the spaces or pores?

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Usually something else is pumped into the well. Especially towards the end of the well's useful life, so that the stuff being pumped in forces the last drops of oil out.

Yes they pump seawater into oil wells to displace the oil, and so the well won't collapse.

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It's not just for displacement but continued well pressure.

What they should be pumping down there though is replacement organic waste. Like for instance particular oils that are from grown produce, so when we eventually run out there is something there to decompose in the future.

What they should be pumping down there though is replacement organic waste. Like for instance particular oils that are from grown produce, so when we eventually run out there is something there to decompose in the future.

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Cool idea, but wouldnt it take millions of years to make more crude?

Even if not, it seems like a false economy to spend fuel powering pumps to put future oil IN the gound, just so we or our grandkids can pump it back up later...

in a lot of countries (like my own) there to much menure; maybe that would be a solution as long as they don't put toxicwaste in it it would be fine i guess. Would seawater get warm if it's to deep onderground? What if it transforms into steam, would the presure get to great?:shrug:

Would seawater get warm if it's to deep onderground? What if it transforms into steam, would the presure get to great?:shrug:

If the steam hasn't got a way out it may rip the ground open.:bugeye:

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Seawater gets way hotter than boiling at deep ocean volcanos, like all along the Atlantic ridge. Cant boil though, cause like you say the pressure is to great. And far under ground its even greater. Im sure water works its way down subduction zones into the mantle all the time, but theres no big steam cloud pushingthe Earth's crust off!

I have been thinking the same for a long time. I have reached a basic theory, the earth may work as similar to an engine. Oil may be used both to reduce friction and lower earth temperature, by limiting the friction between the plaques. I am no scientist so I might be completely wrong but also pumping water to a hole of some kind might create a more unstable situation beacause water is heavier but, is it more dense?, if so why do we use oil in so many applications to create materials like glues, roads, etc. thank you for posting here you all have teached me a lot.

good points, but;, everything is on the, what do i call it in english, you know the upper part of earth, the earth is like an onion, with stages, and we are on the upper stage, anyway, even if maked a thousand hole, it wan't affect the gravitation or the spinning, but it wuill cause aloot of earthquackes, inless they refell those holes after finishing using the oil, well, those holes could make a very good project, i mean, make the hole secured, and build something in it, mabe un,der ground shetlers, or,or something beautifull like aquariums or something, etc... or for a scientific expirement, anyway, don't worry, it's all the upper part of earth buisness.

I know that are a lot of "ifs" butt it is something i think about alot.
Mankind is destroying our planet but doesn't care.

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we are destroying our planet, but our planet want be destroyed because of us, global warming, global colding or whatever, is happeneing millions of years ago, not just now, deserts are turning to forests, and forests turning the deserts, then forests turning to deserts and deserts turning forests, that's happening millions of years ago, and it will all happen, again, sooner or later.

No drilling and extracting oil is not the reason for Earth quakes Tectonic displacement is and as far as the sinkholes go sometimes it happens like in some parts of Texas but that was before they refined the extraction process. The earth will be fine it will go on until the day that our Sun goes nova or it gets hit by a Big ass asteroid. Both of which I am not going to care about while driving my SUV that get 3 miles to the Gallon pulling my Car from Show to show.

I'm wondering what happens beneath the earth while we keep drilling for oil. If you know that we drill millions of liters a day, what does this do to the mantel of our earth?

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What a coincidence. This question was asked and answered in today's Washington Post. The answer was: Yes, it leaves some cavities that may eventually collapse. But we pump far more water out of the earth's surface and we have been doing it for a much longer time, and the effect is much more serious. The south central part of Arizona is already sinking. That's the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas, where most of the people in the state live.

There will never be more crude. That was a once-in-a-planet's-lifetime opportunity. Petroleum is dead trees that have been allowed to lie around undisturbed for about three hundred million years. The reason that they remained undisturbed for this incredibly long time is that none of the organisms that lived in the Carboniferous Era had an enzyme that could break down lignin, the rigid substance that gives trees their strength. In other words, nothing could eat or decay wood.

This is not the case any more. When a potential source of nutrition is available, evolution often eventually steps in and provides us with an organism that can make use of it. In this case it is certain species of fungus, including the ubiquitous common brown button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus. You see huge colonies of this fungus in a walk through the forest, growing on dead trees and happily converting their wood into nutrients, using the lignin modifying enzymes (LMEs) which their body chemistry evolved over time. Some bacteria also have LMEs.

The petroleum in existence now is all there will ever be. In fact, evolution is working on that too: There are now bacteria that can eat petroleum. They evolved in the ocean after the start of offshore oil drilling, because no matter how carefully the process is performed, there is always a little seepage burbling up on the sea floor. In fact, every single year twice as much petroleum seeps into the Gulf of Mexico this way as was spilled into the Arctic by the Exxon Valdez. These bacteria are amazingly efficient: the half-life of any blob of petroleum in the ocean is only three days! The residual "plume" in the Gulf from the BP spill will, for all practical purposes, vanish in a few more weeks without any human intervention.

Since these bacteria evolved to live on the ocean floor, they are actually more effective in colder water. At 40 degrees (5C) they consume oil twice as fast as at 70 (27C).

There are now bacteria that can eat petroleum. They evolved in the ocean after the start of offshore oil drilling, because no matter how carefully the process is performed, there is always a little seepage burbling up on the sea floor..

So why would oil-eating bacteria have only evolved since the human oil industry started? Considering how fast bacteria can evolve, one would think that they would have appeared in Paleozoic times - as soon as the first oil deposits began to seep.

Your answer to BoSmoke's old question about the formation of crude oil - that it will never form again - seems a bit of a severe blanket statement. New oil can be formed in rotting garbage even today.